In the face of a disintegrating healthcare system, skyrocketing insurance costs, and increasing need to be self-reliant, we would do well to improve our health and remain free of accident, illness, and injury. Achieving this requires balance on both a metaphysical and physical level. Let’s examine the metaphysical preconditions for good health first.

Metaphysical Causes of Illness

We know that stress reduces the immune system, but aside from the biological mechanism behind this, there are metaphysical ones as well. The physical body is supported at the quantum level by the etheric body, an energetic scaffolding that keeps everything in order. A breakdown in the etheric body leads to increased entropy in the physical, allowing viruses, fungi, and bacteria to more easily establish themselves with an infection. Several things lead to damage of the etheric body in the form of rips, blockages, and darkenings.

First are negative emotions like fear, worry, anger, hatred, contempt, guilt, and depression — especially if repressed. For example, reading an emotionally distressing news article and boiling with anger, but being unable to do anything and just letting the anger linger, that causes negative etheric energy to build up in one’s etheric body (actually the astral, but it filters down into the etheric) and causes damage. It also spikes the cortisol and adrenaline levels which can wear down one’s physical immune system. Another example: excessive fear, worry, depression, and cynicism over financial and economic conditions will affect one’s etheric body and magnetize one to the probability of getting sick. Last example: internally raging at someone and wanting to verbally thrash them but having to hold it in, that can case an imbalance in the throat chakra and increase chances of a sore throat infection.

Second is stubbornly pushing oneself toward some goal or duty that causes one great stress and discomfort, especially something that is soul-killing. This is a big one. There is a flow to life, a rhythm and direction of optimal balance where your soul maintains health and equilibrium because what it experiences in life matches its spiritual needs. Going 180 degrees against this is like pressing on the gas pedal with the breaks on; it creates friction and stress that can burn out the engine and the breaks. How does one go against the flow? By pursuing ego-inspired or socially-forced goals that go against wisdom and destiny. Sometimes we feel we have no choice, and sure enough sometimes we don’t, but other times we do have the choice to stop some unwise course of action but stubbornly push for it anyway. That’s when accidents and illness increase, which are synchronistic forms of “smoke” and “fire” caused by “friction.”

So those two factors alone, negative emotions and pushing against the spiritual grain, are enough to weaken the immune system and attract disease. Other factors like sleep deprivation and substance abuse can also weaken or damage the etheric body.

Third is holding on to hypochrondriacal belief systems, that is, having subconscious programming that one is under constant assault and at risk of falling ill at any moment. It is true that with chemtrails in the air, fluoride and chemicals in the water, pesticides and GMOs in food, BPA in plastics, and superbugs in our environment that we are under physical attack. However, due to epigenetic and occult reasons a constant and deep seated fear of these threats (beyond mere calm awareness useful for strategic solutions) can catalyze their effects on the body, mind, and soul. For example, in attempting to avoid all toxins in foods and eating clean and organic, one can go overboard and become neurotic, training the body to treat everything as a potential threat, and that can lead to autoimmune issues and a runaway cascade of allergies to anything and everything.

Therefore you may benefit from meditating a few minutes before sleep and after awakening with the thought and feeling that you are completely well and at ease, safe and protected, healthy and sound in mind, body, and soul. This will reprogram your subconscious and epigenetic responses toward being better able at coping with various threats.

Physical Support of the Immune System

Numerous physical factors can reduce one’s immune system.

The first is not getting enough sleep. This leaves the nightly cleanup of metabolic toxins unfinished, creates a stress response (cortisol, adrenaline, and homocysteine) and makes the immune system sluggish. Sleep deprivation can cause loss of brain cells, obesity, heart disease, and more. Do your best to get enough sleep. Caffeine only surges more adrenaline through one’s system, which is like adding nitro to an engine full of sand. It can lead to eventual adrenal fatigue and burnout, and perpetual illness.

The second is the aforementioned stress factor, which also comes from pushing too hard against the spiritual grain and harboring / repressing negative emotions. The worse you feel, the worse your immune system feels. The better you feel, the better your immune system. If you get sick, get warm and sleep like a maniac to conserve calories and feel as awake as you possibly can, for then the lymphocytes are likewise energized and ready to tackle the pathogen. Try to breathe deeply too to oxygenate your body; alkalizing foods such as vegetables help as well.

The third is lack of sunlight / vitamin D. The reason flu season is in full swing by February is not only because people spend more time indoors breathing each other’s air, but because by that point it’s already been a few months of wearing cold weather clothing and not being in the sun as much. Without vitamin D, a host of biological processes cannot function optimally, and the immune system suffers. Unfortunately, supplements are neither as safe, strong, or efficiently absorbed as sunlight, but a D3 supplement is better than nothing during winter months or low-light areas of the world. Zinc and magnesium can enhance the absorption of Vitamin D.

The fourth is a poor diet, and not only the consumption of immune-reducing foods, but the lack of certain macronutrients. For example, not having enough fat or calories can lead to starvation effects, which are quite deleterious to the body. Fat is necessary for hormones and the absorption of vitamins and minerals; going on too low-fat of a diet will lead to malnutrition and autoimmune problems such as intestinal inflammation and dryness of mouth and eyes upon eating certain trigger foods; people have addressed that issue successfully by consuming more vitamin D and fats such as butter. If you are concerned about obesity, then simply make your fatty meal low-carb, because it’s the mixture of high carb and high fat that lead to obesity the quickest.

But the big three immune-knockers are grains, sugar, and dairy.

The high gluten levels in modern wheat products has been linked to mild or severe allergic reactions in people. These reactions cause intestinal and systemic inflammations. Modern commercial wheat products are not fermented, have extra gluten added, use fast-rise yeast that cannot break down the complex starches in wheat, and come from a species of wheat grain that has far more gluten than what our ancestors originally ate. The info on wheat is out there, for example read this book review on the book Dangerous Grains.

The problem is that Celiac Disease is just the most severe type of reaction to wheat gluten, whereas a lesser condition is more common but tends to go undiagnosed. The condition known as gluten sensitivity leads to symptoms that aren’t obviously linked to gluten being the problem. Those with Celiac Disease ought to eliminate gluten entirely, while those with sensitivity can get by with largely reducing their gluten intake. Please do further research on gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease to know what foods are okay to eat, if you suspect you have either.

If you do have to eat wheat bread, then the two safest types are genuine sourdough and sprouted wheat bread. Real sourdough uses no fast-rise yeast and is given a long rise time in which the starches are broken down by the natural micro-organisms in the sourdough starter. This is closer to the kind of bread eaten before the advent of modern industrial bread making. Sprouted wheat has some of the gluten and anti-nutrients deactivated, so it’s not as harsh as the regular commercial breads.

Traditional substitutes for wheat include rice, oats, corn, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, or amaranth. Of these, rice is the least problematic. But while these alternatives contain less gluten (some none, some less than others) it’s generally acknowledged that grains overall aren’t as ideal for human consumption as fruits, vegetables, and tubers. The safest carbs from a dietary, epigenetic, and allergenic standpoint are sweet potatoes, butternut squash, cooked plantains, and fruits.

As for sugar, it’s fine in moderate quantities, but beware of larger quantities as found in soft drinks, cool-aid, fruit juices, cookies, cakes, and pastries. Interestingly, the biggest sugar danger of all is high glycemic carbs such as white bread, soft mushy white rice, fat-free pastries, mashed potatoes, or mushy pasta. These turn into blood sugar quickly because they are so digestible, and that level of sugar either turns into fat or cross-links with proteins in your blood vessels, causing damage to them and accelerating the aging process. It’s the sugar crash one gets an 1-4 hours later that really kicks the immune system down. A big glass of juice can do it, a lot of bread or pastries can do it, a big pile of mashed potatoes can do it — if you get a sugar crash, never eat that food or that quantity again, because every sugar crash is a step closer to cancer, diabetes, obesity, and accelerated aging. The aforementioned safe carbs avoid this by having enough fiber and complex carbs that they are slower to digest.

For those cutting down on sugar, it’s fine to have a teaspoon here and there. In fact, that can reduce cravings and prevent binging. It’s the several tablespoon’s worth found in juice and soft drinks or pastries, cookies, puddings, etc. that should be avoided. Alternatives to sugar include honey, stevia, and maple syrup. Stevia is a bit estrogenic so not recommended for men. There are different types of sugar (glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, xylitol). Fructose is the one to minimize as much as possible; agave nectar is very high in fructose, hence not recommended. Honey contains 50% glucose and 50% fructose just like table sugar, but these are not bound to each other; point being that honey is still sugar, and so is maple syrup. Use in moderation.

As for dairy, well that has several problems: 1) high estrogen content in milk fat (means ovarian cancer for women, breast enlargement in males), 2) pus content from cows with infected udders, 3) lactose sugar which causes intestinal problems for some people, 4) casein protein which not everyone fully digests, causing undigested proteins to circulate in the blood and act as an opium mimicker which screws with brain chemistry and may aggravate autistic and schizophrenic symptoms, 5) pasteurization, which destroys the enzymes that would normally help us digest milk better, and 6) homogenization, which breaks fat globules up into little jagged particles that go rancid more easily. That’s what you get in modern commercial dairy.

If you do cow dairy anyway, butter and half-n-half are alright in moderate quantities, other than the high estrogen levels, so guys don’t go crazy with the butter unless you like a little more weight on your chests. Coconut oil and olive oil are great alternatives to butter. Goat milk and cheese is a decent substitute for regular milk, if you can get used to the goaty taste. Else, there is plain oat/rice milk, just watch out for some having lots of added sugar. Avoid soy milk since it has estrogen-mimickers that will interfere with hormones.

Mainly it is cow cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and whole/2%/1% milk that cause the biggest problems. Best to reduce them to condiment-levels, and stick to alternatives for larger quantities. What is the problem exactly? Well, dairy proteins don’t always digest well and the homogenization process turns fat globules into jagged little particles that can permeate the gut lining. In both cases, dairy particles escape into the blood where the lymphatic system has to clean them up, which clogs it up and reduces its ability to clean up pathogens. For example, the tonsils are a part of the lymphatic system that excretes this waste down the back of the throat, and consuming too much dairy can cause white secretions to form in the tonsils which shouldn’t be there and are a symptom of an overloaded lymphatic system. Stopping dairy will make those go away, proving they are dairy particles the body is trying to eliminate. These particles in the blood can also create an allergic and inflammatory condition, leading to sinusitis, acne, and other health issues. Thus dairy nowadays isn’t a good idea to consume daily or in large quantities.

Here is a list of the top food combinations to avoid, from the most damaging to the least damaging:

The top three ought to ideally be eliminated altogether, and the rest used sparingly or in moderation. Everyone has different biology and metabolism, so it takes some fine tuning to settle in on the foods that give you energy. For most people, wheat, dairy, and sugar don’t have to be eliminated completely, just restricted. A little butter, a little cream in coffee, some wheat breading on chicken, and a little sugar added to stews or oatmeal are fine for most people. It’s mainly the larger quantities and combinations of two or three of the wheat, dairy, and sugar, that do a number on the immune system.

It’s also worth reducing caffeine intake since caffeine creates a stress-response in the body (adrenaline and cortisol increase) — anything over 30mg of caffeine per day is getting into health-negative territory, leading to fatigue, headaches, and rapid aging.

As for supplements and the immune system, the major thing to watch out for is being deficient in zinc, B-vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Deficiencies in any of those will lower your immune system, therefore read up on deficiency symptoms and compensate as necessary. A good site for getting up to speed on nutrition is http://whfoods.com

Physiological Adjustments

A little bit of exercise can go a long way. If you sit on your butt all day and heart rate rarely ever elevates, your overall health may decline. The body will become like a stagnant pond versus a clear bubbling stream. Exercise is necessary to oxygenate cells, accelerate the expulsion of accumulated toxins, and flush out your circulatory system. No, jogging isn’t necessary, nor is exercising so hard that your chest hurts. Just increased breathing and breaking into a light sweat by maintaining elevated heart rate for at least ten minutes per day is enough. Simple home exercises like pushups, bicycle crunches, barbell movements, and leg lifts or squats (if you don’t have weak knees) do the job. Whatever works.

And as mentioned earlier, get enough sleep — every night. Some people view sleep as something that gets in the way of living, but that’s like saying coming up for air gets in the way of diving. Sleep is when the body repairs itself and charges up with physical and vital energy. If you sacrifice sleep for trivial reasons, you will burn the candle at both ends. Your immune system will suffer for it, you will age faster, get sick more often, have lowered creativity and initiative, get stressed and irritated more easily, and become more zombie-like. Get the sleep you need to feel your fullest, and take a short nap if you hit an energy slump during the day.

Metaphysical Adjustments

Moderating your emotional response to situations will become an invaluable skill in the times ahead. I prefer staying on the slightly positive side of neutral — not so flat as to be stone-faced, but not so giddy as to see through rose-colored glasses. Rather, good-natured, optimistic, and most of all sharp, balanced, aware, and lucid.

How can this be done in very challenging circumstances? Well, through a combination of faith and understanding. Faith is needed where knowledge fails, where you have done what you could and the rest is not in your hands. Then it’s better to invoke a feeling that that things will work out, than to worry unnecessarily. Understanding comes down to feeling security in knowing what you must do, that panicking will get you nowhere. An attitude of strategic optimism, that you will get through this and will play your moves smartly, that really helps. If you are confronted with anger or fear, ask yourself whether you can do something about the problem right now. If yes, then do it. If not, then let those emotions go and don’t worry since it’s out of your hands right now.

Catching yourself before you let loose with a blind emotional reaction will keep you from having to suppress that emotion, by nipping it in the bud. How? By noticing yourself reacting the moment that you do, instead of being entranced by the thing triggering your reaction. Notice yourself, notice how you the observer are actually calm and silent deep inside while the emotion is an external thing trying to latch itself onto you, trying to get you to align and identify with it. Ask yourself if this is really necessary. Then look for understanding, the meaning, the lesson, the way out of this situation you are in, and act logically and strategically.

If you build up a momentum of balanced optimism then when confronted with a negative emotional trigger you are less liable to lose control because you are already centered and stable. Therefore it may help to start your day with some thoughts of gratitude, hope, and wonderment. If you do this, you will also notice it affecting the probability of your experiences throughout the day, reducing incidences of aggravation and misfortune and increasing positive synchronicities. That is because consciousness subtly affects how the future flows into the present.

A harder task is aligning with the optimal flow of life. It can be accomplished by consulting your intuition, heart, and common sense when making decisions, by spotting genuine inner and outer resistance to going in the wrong direction (see my article Battle of Opposites).

The key to survival and good health in the coming years will be keeping your eyes open and acting smartly without losing your emotional composure or spiritual integrity, no matter what happens to you or those around you.